Bingo.!!!! Thames/Wells....we called for that G. Guti only against lefties? Ditto. I think we talked about a Franklin/Ryan platoon, too.
But Wedge has lost this team, from my (stratospheric) viewpoint. Evidently he's screaming in the lockerroom tonight..but at whom? Veteran starters? Man those are his guys? Raul? Ditto! Bay...samething. Chavez has actually hit. Andino? Man, your'e screaming at a replacement level player for playing like a replacement level player. Ryan? He's hit like this for two years. Smoak has a season best three game hitting streak and Ackley is finding his old self.
Montero? Morse? Unlikely.
I know we're only 20 games into a season and we might turn it around.
But we're more likely to turn it around with Triunfel at SS, Franklin bashing against righties, Thames hitting against those same guys, Smoak on the farm, Bay in another state, Ibanez as a bench coach, and Wedge gone.
I would give Hultzen the ball, too. But I can punt on that one to make the others more palatable.
Z's job is to give this team the best chance to succeed. We're not currently structured for that.
moe
Comments
I know we are all upset, just as much as PhxTerry... especially at seeing another season probably being wasted... but we still get to play the Astros another 13 times. And the Twins, Indians, and the hated Padres...The fat lady is warming up, but she is not even on the stage yet.
We have two of the best starters in the league.
The kids - Ackley, Seager and to some extent Smoak - are starting to hit.
Yes, adjustments have to be made. Guys have to get healthy. We are probably not going to win 5 of the next 9 games.
However, after that stretch, we have a bunch of days off. These guys finally get some rest. Maybe they go with a 6 man pen, and get an extra bat on the bench.
Who knows - but it will get better.
No way this team loses 95 games this year.
Great article, G.
Wondered what the most plausible and impactful moves available to Z were and I think you summed them up nicely. Perhaps after Andino stinks it up for a few weeks it will be politically acceptable to bring up Miller. He is also widely regarded to be the SS of the future so it wouldn't be totally inappropriate and might just provide a lift (Ryan and Andino both seems very serious and sad).
Yep. Miller and Hultzen could make an impact but it would be more psychological/emotional than WAR. This team seemed to be on their way to having a fun season. Shed the sad sacks and let's gets some more shaving cream pies prepared.
Go M's!
How can an organization be so hard-headed? Have the Mariners not been awful for a decade? When what you are doing is terrible, and someone close to you (just south in Oakland) has been eating your LUNCH for years playing to their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses by platooning, you swallow your pride and use the blueprint. It isn't rocket science. Not all teams can be innovators. Look at the NFL, they get it. If the Mariners are struggling as an organization, you beg, borrow, steal, scratch and claw until you are on the opposition's level (or at least bring them down a notch so you can at least see them in the distance).
What, are the Mariner's "better" than that? It's like we are too civilized to get into a dogfight. Right. Look at the crowds at Safeco.
And jeez, I am talking like platooning is some sort of revolutionary concept. Why oh why do the Mariners, every single year, put players in positions where they are most likely to fail, and then refuse to build a bench to shield those players from failure...or even injury? Why can we look at the benches of teams with half the payroll with envy? This isn't a Wedge problem, or a Z problem. It has been going on for more than a decade. There is no excuse. Every year we punt two roster spots on washed up veterans for leadership. Tell you what, give me the roster spot and the money. I can lead the team into a 60 win season just as well as Raul and Bay can.
Whew, rant over.
As a long-suffering M's fan, here's my prescription:
1) Fire Eric Wedge today. He's an old-school, mediocre manager who consistently over-uses veterans, doesn't understand platoons, and is a poor tactical game manager. In addition, he's on the verge of losing the team's respect, if he hasn't already done so after last night's closed door meeting when he blamed the players for his own failings. GMZ can reinforce the notion of accountability by firing Wedge, who's done a lousy job.
2) Make Raul the Interim Manager. This solves our biggest roster problem in one stroke, because he can't put himself in the lineup. It recoups our $2.7M investment. This move relieves persons who are concerned about treating veterans with respect so we can ensure that we can hire more washed up vets in the future. Handing Raul this whole team is the ultimate sign of respect. He can't be worse than Wedge, and he might be better. Install a bat-phone with a direct connection to Robin Ventura for a life line to get instant advice in tight situations.
3) Send Smoak to Tacoma. Move Morales to 1B, showcasing him for a National League trade at the deadline.
4) Catch Shoppach 3 days a week; Montero 3 days. DH becomes a Montero-Morse job share.
5) With 2 roster spots open, bring up Thames as a platoon OFer with Bay. Bring up Franklin as a platoon IFer with Ryan and Andino, per Gordon's recommendation. Overall, this gives our intrepid new manager more roster flexibility and more options during the games. Don't rush M Saunders back and ruin him for the whole year like Carp last year. When Saunders is ready after a rehab assignment, the next roster move should be self-evident (probably bye-bye to Andino).
6) If you can find a right-handed bat per Gordon's recommendation, shed Bay .
Go M's. My $.02.
During the offseason, we argued the most important thing was to add ISO (SLG - BA or essentially SLG attributable to extra-base hits), since we had a lineup with too many OBP guys trying to slug.
The "Mo-betta" boys (Morse and Morales) were added to this end, and, to a lesser extent, Raul.
The overall offensive stats are generally pretty unsightly all the way around, and obviously the amount of data is small, but ...
Before Saunders/Morse twin killing (April 10 & 11) -- ISO = .170
After Saunders/Morse twin killing (April 12 on) -- ISO = .103
2012 ISO = .135
***
Morse ISO before injury: .439
Morse ISO after injury: .054
***
Saunders ISO before injury: .214
Guti ISO when he's played = .278
***
Morales ISO = .177 (the only guy left to carry the whole lineup with Morse neutered)
====
From 4/12 on, this has not been the 2013 lineup. It's been a worse version of the 2012 lineup with Morales instead of Jaso.
The emgerency ISO-injection was also supposed to help Smoak and Ackley relax into the OBP roles for which they are better suited, but that's dependent on the ISO guys being in the lineup and actually producing ISO.
Wonder if Wedge screamed at the bundle of veteran goodness wrapped in the personhood of J. Saunders? Yesterday, the M's needed a lock-down, warrior effort from the starting pitcher to earn an important victory -- kind of like Kuma's warrior start the day before that Wedge personally threw away with a poor starting line-up and terrible in-game management. Instead, J Saunders threw a stinker. But never mind, he's an entitled vet, so Mr Saunders has earned the right to let down his teammates.
But this is part of the purpose of moving to as many platoon-type situations as we can: to put people in an advantageous situation for them. Playing Raul against lefties doesn't help anyone. We can't do a catcher platoon any more at the plate but since both Smoak and Morales are worse hitting right-handed there should be plenty of ABs to get Shoppach or Montero in there when those situations arise. Living in abject terror of having to let a pitcher bat once, maybe twice in a game if something horrible happens to your starting C in the ONE game you let your backup catcher DH is not a good state of mind.
And it just shortens the useful members of the bench. We need power and RBIs - how many times have we been stranded this year? It's been ugly. If our hitters cannot handle all situations then arrange the lineups and the roster so that they can be put in more managable situations.
As was said by others, it's not like this is a new concept, or even an out-dated one. Oakland's been kicking our keisters up and down the coast doing it this way.
Pride and stupidity have been the bane of victory. Let's stop helping other teams beat us, shall we?
~G
I read DC's article over on USM. He basically says that the M's can't rid themselves of Wedge because there are no better options, considering that most of the staff (minus Hansen) are Wedge guys from as far back as Cleveland.
He's wrong. Essentially he's saying nothing is broken, or broken enough to warrant a change. So just sit back and enjoy the ride for now.
Gee......wasn't that the Figgin's rationale, too?
Things are WAY broken. Wedge is largely at fault.
Giving the job to Hansen or a AAA guy or Raul can't break it anymore than it is.
Let's move the heck on.
moe
Every well run organization enforces accountability. For 2 years, Wedge has been mis-managing his roster by over-playing entitled veterans in place of more talented younger players & failing to platoon players with huge platoon splits. His in-game tactical management is poor. He is part of the over-all organization's failure to develop young, talented position players. Time for GMZ to re-establish accountability and fire him. This act sends the right message to the players, who in turn must be put in their optimum position to succeed and then also held accountable.
Wedge commented early in the year that it was "too early in the season" or some such non-sense to pull the Vet vs. the same handed reliever... he steadfastly refuses to do so still - do we really think that platooning *young* players is something that he's capable of?
If they make the move to dump Wedge, Brown is 30 minutes away in Tacoma. He is, by all accounts, a good manager and the kids play for him. I think that if you go there, you have to dump Raul as well. Raul is there to help Wedge but he would hurt a guy like Brown.
It would be a bold move for Jack. He would essentially be pushing all his remaining chips onto the table and betting on black. And by black, I mean youth. Dump the "entitled vet" manager, dump the biggest example of the entitled vet (Ibanez) and bring in the guy that manages the kids well. Might as well dump one of the stale veteran pitchers as well and bring up Hultzen as well.
Firing Wedge right now doesn't do anything for you. Here's what I'd do:
1) Send Smoak to Tacoma (or trade him) and start playing Morales at 1B
2) Make Montero the full-time DH or send him to Tacoma, or trade him
3) Acquire or promote a catcher to share time with Shoppach so that Montero never has to catch another game.
4) Call up Franklin. I think this is inevitable in the near future if he keeps hitting.
5) Bring up Zunino in July
6) Promote Walker to AAA
7) Promote Tyler Pike to AA
Tonight's lineup was ridiculous. Jason Bay leading off? Andino and Ryan in the lineup at the same time?
It sounds like Hultzen is out for at least two weeks. Hopefully nothing major. Assuming the best case scenario that this injury really is minor, and giving him a few starts at Tacoma to get back to where he was, you're probably looking at mid-June as his earliest arrival date.